Unilever to crowdsource sustainability

Unilever is turning to crowdsourcing to develop sustainability initiatives including ways to change consumer behaviour through marketing.

Unilever

The FMCG firm is hosting an online event inviting people from governments, NGOs and businesses around the world to contribute their thoughts on ways to change consumer behaviour, sourcing, production and recycling.

Unilever hopes to use the event, and the knowledge gleaned from the conversations, to help make its business and brands more sustainable. It will also publish the findings for all participants to use within their own organisations.

The 24-hour global event, called the Sustainable Living Lab, will run online on 25 April – the day after Unilever publishes a progress report on its sustainability commitments.

Paul Polman, Unilever CEO, says the firm will “learn from others, inspire fresh thinking and share good practice”.

The FMCG firm set out ambitious environmental commitments under its Sustainable Living Plan in November 2010, including its aims to halve the environmental footprint of its products and source 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020.

It is also working with Sainsbury’s and the Forum for the Future, to develop an online toolkit to help other organisations to develop sustainable initiatives that generate profit.

The online event will be hosted by independent research consultancy GlobeScan.

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